Small Reflections: Photobucket

Make Time for Small Reflections
SkyWatch#15/HF#80 is at Sacred Ruminations.

According to the
countdown widget I will be
celebrating my ...

Hard to imagine
I've been blogging DAILY here
(plus 3 to 4 times

weekly at Sacred
Ruminations) ... and have learned
a great deal about

many things. Review-
ing my early posts on both
blogs, I wish that I

had taken 'screen shots'
of the way things started out
to compare with the

way things look today.
Visual changes obscure
just how 'plain' both blogs

started out ... and my
lack of knowledge concerning
this 'virtual' world.

I am grateful to
each & every one of you
who assisted me

along this journey ...
and the visitors who leave
comments & who 'lurk'

thus I offer this
seasonal 'Thank You' found at
Photobucket!

Graphic source: LarkH @ Photobucket

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

For others participating in Haiku Friday this week go to A Mommy Story.
Click forSkyWatch/Haiku Friday at Sacred Ruminations.

(To see my previous Haikus, click on the Haiku Friday label below this post or in the sidebar under About Me where you'll find a 'directory' of my Haikus on both blogs).

In case you missed it (and if time permits today), see also Whimsical Wednesday for a few other 'activities' and associated 'original' awards.

Thought for Today
"A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties." Harry Truman

Olive is this week's host for Fun Monday. She writes ...
"The next assignment is: I would like to hear about your *whopper* of a fishing story. Yes, you heard it correctly whether it is fictional or non fictional I want to hear a fishing story from you. An example would be if you catch a minnow and tell it that you caught a swordfish (exaggeration is the operative word here). Did you hear me say show your photo(s)? Of course you did – be creative."

A bit of background info to set the stage:
Exaggeration has never been my strong suit ... and in truth, I've not THOUGHT about fishing in DECADES (sorry that none of the photos from way back when are readily available to scan to share this morning), but it's something I did often while married to a die-hard fresh-water Bass fisherman for 21 years. We would set out from home in the wee hours of the morning (around 2-3am) to arrive at one of the San Diego County lakes ... ready to be on the water at sunrise.

In the beginning we'd rent a metal boat, but within a year or so we purchased a 10-foot 'flat-bottomed car-topper jon boat' at Sears. It hung suspended above our cars in the garage mid-week ...(seriously folks, sometimes truth is strange than fiction)... and added a rack to the top of the VW Bus. Soon we were driving Friday evenings to the lake and sleeping in the 'bus' ... frequently staying the whole weekend so we could fish TWO days instead of one.

Eventually we purchased a Dodge Van and a 17' Bass Boat with an 85HP Evinrude (that doubled as a ski-boat and looked a bit like this except it was orange & white with orange seats) ... bought some land at Canyon Lake (once known as Railroad Canyon Reservoir) so he could fish and I could water-ski on the same weekend trip.

Let's see ... what 'fish story' shall I share here?

The most memorable might be the day at Lake Henshaw where we found a 'honey-hole' ... catching our limit in less than 10 minutes early in the day. The bass hit our lines the minute the lure found the water ... giving us each a good 'fight' to land and add them to the stringer before casting again & repeating the process. My 'ex' used a 'sounding device' known as a Lokator to 'map' the bottom of many of the San Diego County lakes, but we never found this particular spot again because someone snagged his maps that day on the dock ... putting a damper on his day.

Another time on Bass Lake south of Yosemite National Park (when the bass weren't biting) we used some live worms to fish for Crappie ... caught our limit and headed back to camp to share with his parents (who were camping with us in their motor home). Unfortunately, he neglected to put the stringer inside the boat before 'hitting it' ... so by the time we arrived to share our catch, the only thing remaining on the stringer were a few fish mouths.

It's strange that I can't seem to recall fishing stories with happy endings today, though I do recall that fresh water bass taste delicious ... but more often than not (being the sportsman he was) the fish were 'photographed & released' because he subscribed to the theory that one day he'd catch 'the BIG ONE' he'd keep and frame.

Our scariest experience happened on one of the lakes in the June Lake Loop north of Yosemite. We fished our way to the far end of the lake on a cold & windy day without noticing how quickly the clouds were gathering overhead ... so that when the skies opened and the rain fell we had a LONG TRIP back across the very choppy water in our little John boat powered by a 5HP engine that didn't go very fast in the best of conditions). It took us more than a half hour to make our way back across the lake (into the wind gusting against us) to the launch area. We were both drenched, but relieved to be on land again ... and paid more attention to weather conditions ever after.

Images found at Photobucket
Click for others participating in Fun Monday this week.

Thought for Today
"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses it has it coming." John Steinbeck